Tag Archives: canada

Business/Economics, International, Opinion, U.S.

What Economic Recovery? Wars on Terror, anti-Islam movies, sanctions against Iran, all part of conspiricy to jack up oil prices beyond $150 per barrel? The real shadow war?

16 September 2012, get ready for higher oil prices!

Iranian officials in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) said the real price per barrel of oil should be around $150 USD.  Their reasoning varied from the time of the year, to comparisons of prices by inflation (1970s compared to 2000).  They even said the World economy can handle much higher prices.

Not sure if they are talking about British Brent crude prices, or U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil.

On 14 September 2012, Brent crude went over $117 USD per barrel.

Reading a Canadian report, turns out that’s still not high enough!  The Canadian province of Newfoundland/Labrador have set their government budget in the hopes that Brent crude will go over $124 USD per barrel.  The province makes most its money off oil production.

In fact, because Brent hasn’t hit the magic money mark, yet, the provincial Premier, Kathy Dunderdale, had to cut their budget: “I’m not so worried about this year. I’m more worried about next year. Because if oil stays where it is, our deficit could be around $1 billion [CAD] next year.”

In other words, some governments, who’s major money making industries happen to be the oil industries, want oil prices to skyrocket!!!

However, Iranian OPEC officials say the United States is trying to bring down oil prices, by demanding OPEC members increase oil production.

A few years ago I read an article that explained that most oil producing countries (including members of OPEC) would be losing money if oil were less than $90 per barrel.

So, the reason why the U.S. wants to bring down prices, while other countries want prices to go up, could be that the U.S. domestic oil industry can handle lower oil prices (except for shale oil).  Most other countries have higher oil production costs (like Canada) because of the type of oil and labor costs.

The U.S. model is a kind’a WalMart tactic; keep prices cheap and sell as much in volume as you can until your competition quits.

So what we have are those who want oil prices even higher than they are now, and those who want them to drop.  Is this the real shadow war taking place behind the deadly facade of War on Terror, sanctions and insulting other people’s religions?

International, U.S.

World War 3: Russia supports and chastises the U.S. Lebanon, Oman, Iraq, Israel, India joins the protests! Canadian embassy closed! U.S. consulate in Germany evacuated! Navy SEALs killed in Libya!

“Who are you, you lowlifes, to insult what is good for people?”-Lebanese anti-U.S. poster held by protestors in Tripoli

Anti-U.S./Israeli protests have erupted in the Lebanese cities of Tripoli and Sidon.

Vladimir Putin, President of Russia, says the United States must react strongly against the killing of their ambassador to Libya, yet he also chastised the U.S. saying “…religious feelings of people of all beliefs must be handled very carefully.”

Four people have now been killed in the anti-U.S. protests in Yemen.  Gunshots and bombs were targeted against the U.S. embassy in San’a. U.S. embassy staff were evacuated.

The U.S. puppet president of Yemen, Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi, has apologized to Barack Obama.

In Germany, the United States consulate in Berlin had to be partially evacuated when an employee became immediately sick after opening an envelope: “The lady felt unwell and reported a metallic taste in her mouth.”-German police spokesperson

German police say they found nothing suspicious in the embassy.

In Cairo, Egypt, protestors are massing outside the U.S. embassy for a third day of protest.  Egyptian health officials say 224 people have been wounded.  The Canadian embassy has been closed.

It turns out that two of the three U.S. embassy staffers killed along with the U.S. ambassador in Libya, were U.S. Marines who were SEALs (Sea Air Land Teams).  Officially they were in Libya as “security guards”.

Arab Israelis are protesting outside the U.S. embassy in Israel.  Arab politicians in Israel are demanding the United Nations intervene against the United States!

People of Oman protesting outside U.S. embassy.

A militant group in Iraq says it will take action against the United States over the anti-Islam Innocence of Muslims movie.

The Indian government announced they have banned the movie.

Nakoula Basseley Nakoula has been outed as the producer/director of the Innocence of Muslims movie.  He has gone into hiding. He used the pseudonym Sam Bacile. He claimed that his anti-Islam movie was paid for with $5 million USD from 100 Jews.

Nakoula is a christian who served time in prison for bank fraud.  He has been directly connected to a group called Media for Christ.  To make matters worse, it turns out the actors in the movie were tricked into thinking they were portraying a legitimate story about life in the ancient Middle East, nothing about Islam: “We were supposed to be playing a film of how life was 2,000 years ago……there was never any mention of Muhammad, Muslims or anything like that in the film. I was just playing the role of a mother.”-Cindy Lee Garcia, actress

Garcia said some of the actors’ lines were dubbed over in post production. She confronted Nakoula/Bacile about it and his response was: “I’m tired of the radical Muslims running around killing everyone.”

There is growing belief that this Innocence of Muslims movie is a conspiracy by radical right wing militant U.S. christians trying to instigate what they believe would be the final war between Jews and Muslims, that would bring the second coming of the Christ.

But the Torah, and the Old Testament of the Bible, have a warning for such christians and jews: “You shall not tempt Yahweh [Lord, Jehovah, Adonai] your God…..”-Deuteronomy 6:16

 

 

 

Idaho, Technology

Idaho Wildfire Update, 12 September 2012: Another smokey day, more air tankers arrive at Pocatello Tanker Base. Evacuations in effect!

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12 September 2012

“Large fires Washington, Oregon, Montana and Idaho made significant acreage gains over the past 24 hours. In Washington, the Barker Canyon Complex burned more than 75,000 acres, and the Apache Pass fire burned 10,000. The Dutch fire in Montana grew by nearly 16,000 acres, and the Mustang fire in Idaho burned an additional 8,400 acres. About 14,500 firefighters and support personnel are currently assigned to large fires across the country.”-National Interagency Fire Center statement

There haven’t been any new fires reported in eastern Idaho, but there are still major fires burning throughout the state, and region.  More privately run air tankers have landed at Pocatello Tanker Base (Pocatello airport), including a second BAe-146-200; tanker 40 of Montana’s Neptune Aviation (leased from Tronos in Canada).

Click pics (by AAron B. Hutchins) to make bigger:

There are now nine large fires burning throughout Idaho.

Halstead Fire: More than 150,000 acres (60,702.8 hectares), evacuations in effect.

McGuire Complex Fire: More than 25,000 acres (10,117.14 hectares), evacuations are in effect.

Mustang Complex Fire: More than 289,000 acres (116,954.15 hectares), area closures are in effect.

Porcupine Complex Fire: More than 17,800 acres (7,203.4 hectares).

Powell SBW Complex Fire: More than 42,000 acres (16,996.79 hectares), area closures are in effect.

Sheep Fire: More than 21,600 acres (8,741.2 hectares), evacuations are in effect.

Skull Fire: New fire 35 miles northeast of Roundup.

Trinity Ridge Fire: More than 146,500 acres (59,286.44 hectares), area closures are in effect.

Wesley Fire: More than 3,800 acres (1,537.8 hectares), residences are threatened.

IDAHO WILDFIRE UPDATE, 11 SEPTEMBER 2012: MORE CANADIAN AIRCRAFT ARRIVE AT POCATELLO

Idaho, Technology

Idaho Wildfire Update, 10 September 2012: Canada joins the fight at Pocatello Tanker Base!

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10 September 2012, the smoke just won’t go away, ’cause fires just keep poppin’ up!  So far, the year to date fire retardant used by fire fighting aircraft out of Pocatello airport (aka Pocatello Tanker Base) is 261,797 gallons (991,009.4 liters).

Little “seeders” 802 Air Tractors are the backbone of airborne firefighting operations out of Pocatello airport, but Neptunes, MAFFS C-130s and now Convair CV580 operated by CONAIR of Canada, are making appearances at the tanker base.

Click pics (by AAron B. Hutchins) to make bigger:

According to the National Interagency Fire Center, there are new fires in Idaho, Washington, Oregon, Nevada and Wyoming.  There are currently 34 large wildfires burning through the United States.

Idaho has seven large fires, with 640,881 acres (259,355.3 hectares) burned! California has nine fires, but with fewer burned acres, at 151,988 (61,507.36 hectares).

The most recent fires here in eastern Idaho were the Flint Canyon Fire south of American Falls, West Menan Fire and the Pickering Fire near Rexburg.

Regarding the now notorious Mustang Complex Fire, recently officials said the fire was so hard to get to that it would probably burn until the first heavy snowfall of winter!

The Mustang Complex Fire, burning along the Idaho/Montana border, increased by 20,000 acres (8,093.7 hectares) on 09 September 2012.  Mandatory evacuations were ordered.  The fire is now the single largest in the United States, at 281,000+ acres (113,716.6 hectares)!

EAST IDAHO WILDFIRE UPDATE, 29 AUGUST 2012: BURN AREAS BECOME DUST FARMS. 

Business/Economics, Idaho, International, U.S.

Economic Recovery? No food crisis in Idaho, farmers see 15% increase in exports! Thank Canada and Mexico!

“With 96% of the world’s population and 80% of the world’s wealth being outside of the United States, the international market opportunities for agricultural products are great.”-Idaho Department of Agriculture

According to the Idaho Department of Agriculture, farm exports are up 15% compared to 2011, and 2011 was a record setting year!

“Canada and Mexico are Idaho’s largest agricultural export markets, with Japan and China following closely behind.”-Idaho Department of Agriculture

South Korea has also become a top importer of Idaho ag products, seeing a 98% increase since 2011!

Dairy has become Idaho’s number one ag product, making up 35% of Idaho’s exports! Compared to other U.S. states, Idaho’s exports rank 3rd for vegetables and 4th for dairy products (2011 stats).

For the first six months of 2012, total ag exports hit $2.7 billion USD for Idaho!  State officials thank currency exchange rates, strong commodity markets, trade agreements and growing international consumer demand.

It also doesn’t hurt that Idaho’s agricultural industry produces far more than what the state’s population of 1.5 million people can eat.

Unfortunately most of the employees of the Idaho ag industry are migrants.  Idaho employment laws allows farm workers to be paid less than minimum wage.

 

Idaho, U.S.

Idaho getting smoked! State health officials concerned. Firefighter killed in action! Flying boats join battle.

13 August 2012, while the Eastern Idaho Interagency Fire Center isn’t reporting any new fires, that doesn’t mean the rest of the state isn’t on fire.

On 12 August 2012, more than 11 wildfires across the state burned at least 500 square miles (804.6 kilometers).

Today, things are so bad in the Boise foothills that a DC-10 Very Large Tanker (VLT) has been called in.  The Ourada Ranch Fire grew 70 acres (28.3 hectares) in less than one hour!

click pics to make bigger

In northern Idaho, a firefighter lost her life when a tree fell on her.  Anne Veseth was fighting the Steep Corner Fire, near Orofino, on 12 August.  Fire officials are investigating.

The Idaho Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) is concerned about the amount of smoke in the air, all across the state. On 12 August health officials raised warnings, saying it could be days before the heavy smoke clears out.

The smoke is not just from wildfire in Idaho, but from huge fires in northern California and northern Nevada. Officials say weather and geography are playing a big part in smoking out Idahoans: “…when you get stagnant conditions, no wind, no real movement, everything just kind of sits on top of the whole area…”-Mike Toole, DEQ

International, U.S.

World War 3: Trilateral Commission advances; United States, European Union & Japan to go it alone against Syria, no longer working through United Nations!

25 July 2012, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says the United States will no longer use the United Nations Security Council, instead it has formed an alliance with the Arab League and the new French led group called Friends of Syria (which is made up of the European Union and Japan).

Clinton also said that the U.S. no longer cares what Russia and China thinks, saying their concerns are now “on the far backburner” as far as the U.S. is concerned.

Back on 06 July 2012, Clinton told the Friends of Syria they needed to stand up to Russia and China in order to make sure “…that Russia and China will pay a price.”

Now the United States has joined the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in officially announcing they will increase support for rebels, however Clinton did not go into details.

Note that this new alliance is made up mainly of the EU, Japan and North America, who are the regional members of the Trilateral Commission (the true shadow government).

 

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

LIBOR: Barclays says order to rig rates came from Bank of England. Governments calling the shots!

“…unprecedented degree of government intervention in the financial system…..not the first time LIBOR had come up….It didn’t seem an inappropriate action given that it was coming from the Bank of England.”-Jerry del Missier, statements made to U.K. Parliament

16 July 2012, former chief operating officer of Barclays, Jerry del Missier, told a parliamentary committee that the ‘order’ to manipulate interest and currency rates came directly from the Bank of England!

The Bank of England (BoE) is the central bank of the United Kingdom, similar to the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank.  Missier referred to the “lowballing” order from central banks as “…a time when governments were tangibly calling the shots“.

Missier, from Canada, quit his job at Barclays just hours after chief executive, Bob Diamond, resigned.

The LIBOR scandal now involves dozens of Too Big to Fail banks around the western world, and Japan’s TIBOR and European Union’s EURIBOR. The scandal involves banks in North America, Europe and Japan (the regional members of the Trilateral Commission).

And don’t blame Obama, this started under the Bush Jr administration!

Check my blog for other LIBOR reports.

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

LIBOR: U.K. orders new investigation! Top three Japanese banks involved in international rate fixing! Bank governor admits banks are “deceitful”! More proof of Trilateral policies, & that the Too Big to Fails caused the economic mess!

“Your working hypothesis should be that every bank in the industry did some version of this same thing. There will be more to come.”-unnamed banking official in letter to British news media

02 July 2012, Marcus Agius, a chairman of evil British Empire’s Barclays has resigned.  Barclays recently settled with U.S. and U.K. regulators over the LIBOR scandal. The settlement was a pittance compared to the damage Barclays, and other banks caused.

The general public in Britain has been calling for Barclays boss, Bob Diamond, to resign as well.  Public officials are calling for criminal charges: “…when we’re setting up the National Crime Agency we should look at the record of the Serious Fraud Office. I suspect financial crime is easier to get away with in this country than practically any other sort of crime.”-Ken Clarke, Justice Secretary of United Kingdom

Barclays “systematically” falsified data to set the London Interbank Offered Rate, or LIBOR.  Regulators from Switzerland and U.K., are investigating at least 20 banks, including the top three banks in Japan (for fraudulent Tokyo Interbank Offered Rate or TIBOR), banks in Canada, U.S. and European Union!  Elites from Japan, North America and Europe are members of the private organization Trilateral Commission.

Mervyn King, Governor of the Bank of England, said LIBOR “is now dead”, and even called the very banking system he represents “deceitful”!  Now the British government is calling for a new independent investigation into the British banking system and LIBOR.

The amount of money manipulated by the LIBOR (and now TIBOR) scandal is estimated at more than $361 trillion USD!!!

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

What Economic Recovery? As I warned, Cosmetic prices up, as are prices for personal care products. No more cow dung for toothpaste!

“Cosmetics were very expensive back then, and a single product could cost the equivalent of a month’s salary for many office ladies.”-Chen Linlin, L’Oréal China

Linlin is talking about the not so good economic decade of the 1930s, but it looks like history is repeating for people (in North America and Europe) who just have to have makeup.

Back on 4 July 2011, I posted how Estee Lauder Group was the first cosmetic company to jack up their prices, and that it would be a trend for the whole industry.

Recently a Forbes article showed that Estee Lauder and L’Oréal are making bank in the Chinese market.  China’s internet cosmetics market is now nine times bigger than that of the United States, a 200% increase since 2006!

Last year cosmetics makers claimed that labor costs, and the costs of resources were the reasons for price increases.  Now, with China draining the supply of cosmetics, demand will ensure that prices will continue to go up.

Don’t blame China only, blame South America!  According to a NASDAQ report, the biggest market place for Avon (AVP) products is not the home base of the United States, but South America!

But, the NASDAQ report inadvertently reveals a couple of hidden reasons for the increase in your makeup prices: “AVP has turned its toehold in Latin America into a $1 billion-a-quarter business by spending a fortune on marketing and retailer incentives — if not the outright ‘bribes’ it is accused of distributing in Asia.”

However, when it comes to cosmetics that’re supposed to stop aging, it’s vain women in the United States that still take first place when it comes to anti-aging skin care products.

According to the research company, Mintel, the anti-aging skin care market in the U.S. leads the world with $2.3 billion USD in 2011 sales!

But it doesn’t stop with makeup.  One of my daughters told me that the shampoo she uses is now $2.00 USD more than it was a couple of years ago.

According to reports, the booming economy in India is creating a huge demand for personal care products that most rural people in India didn’t have access to: “In the past we used to use sticks or cow dung ash to clean our teeth. But now, just like urban people, we use a toothbrush and toothpaste. We use shampoo and expensive oils and creams. We have everything in our village that people have in towns and cities.”-Arun Mondal, a rural villager

In Canada the demand for body soap that does not contain harsh fragrances, therefore more environmentally friendly, has a Canadian soap manufacture scrambling and expanding into the retail market.

Paul Gillepsie, owner of Island Essentials wholesale, has so much business that he’s opened a retail store in Victoria, and will expand into Alberta. In 2004 his soap products were carried in 150 Canadian stores, now they’re sold in more than 250 stores.

But can we blame rising prices on rising demand in countries like Canada, China, India, and the countries of South America, and our own United States?

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the cost to U.S. consumers of personal care products has been skyrocketing ever since the 1960s! In the 1960s, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for personal care products was just under 40.  Now, in 2012, it’s at 161 and climbing.

However, looking at the Producer Price Index (PPI), aka U.S. wholesale prices,  shows that costs of intermediate goods (which are necessary for production of finished goods) have gone down from January 2011 to January 2012!

Intermediate goods were at 6.2% in January 2011, and were at 4.2% by January 2012, a 2% drop.  The cost of finished goods were at 3.6% in January 2011, but 12 months later were at 4.1% in January 2012, a half percent increase.

What’s important in the January to January comparison is what happened in the middle of 2011.  The costs of intermediate goods pegged at 11.5% in July 2011!  For finished goods the costs hit 7.1% twice, once in May and once in July 2011.

The spikes in intermediate and finished goods mirrors the cost of raw materials (aka crude materials). Overall, raw materials began January 2011 at 10.9%, and ended the year down more than 6%, at 4.5% in January 2012.  Again, the real killer was the spike in costs in the middle of 2011, topping out at 26.1% in June!

We in the United States are still paying for those spikes in the production costs of making the personal care products we can’t be without (cow dung for toothpaste anyone?).  However, the overriding decider of retail costs is still demand for such products, which seems to increase year after year, exponentially.